Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Self-checkout machines are spreading to more Brooklyn libraries, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, and we wonder if they will work better than the self-checkout machines at CVS in Brooklyn Heights, which are mocked far and wide as representations of a dysfunctional future dystopia.

The library is touting self-checkout "as part of a new model of public service," and says no clerks or librarians will be laid off. They will instead spread the joy of literature and learning amongst the patrons.

Just like the MTA said no token clerks would be laid off when they installed MetroCard machines. (The MTA laid off of 600 clerks and closed 184 booths in 2009 and 2010.)

It's gotten so bad that a City Councilman told his wife to duck under the turnstiles when a subway station's MetroCard machines were broken. The city, of course, said his wife should have walked -- or maybe taken a taxi? -- to the next station rather than "steal" from the MTA.

Back at the Brooklyn Heights branch library, one library patron mused about the new machines. "I wonder if they will break eventually? If one goes down it’s a one-shot deal.”

And an old-time librarian told the Brooklyn Eagle what nobody else would say: “They’re not hiring any new librarians."

Monday, July 30, 2012

Brooklyn commenters reacted with shock and revulsion to writer Amy Sohn's frightening depiction in The Awl of married life in Park Slope and environs, where moms are drunken sluts, dads are stoned and "Ninety percent of the sex being had in brownstone Brooklyn is by French ex-pats."

In The 40-Year-Old Reversion, Sohn says the characters in her new novel, Motherland, "are inspired by my neighbors, who seek liberation not through consciousness-raising and EST the way their mothers did, but through Fifty Shades of Grey and body shots."

Apparently, Park Slope parents do blow and flash each other. They feel old and think about divorce. Taking care of their children bores them, but they get smashed and forget to use contraception and that's why New York has a baby boom right now.

"It’s the moment when a mom dresses as a Harajuku girl for Halloween, or there’s a full bar at a four-year-old's birthday party, or two ladies step out of book group to smoke on the stoop. It’s blowjob gestures at cocktail parties followed by a-little-too hysterical laughter. It’s the mother who says, 'Mommy needs an Advil because she stayed up too late last night.' It’s fortieth birthday parties at karaoke bars."

There are more than 400 reader comments. Typical is, "All your friends are assholes." This piece apparently convinced at least one reader to move to the suburbs and another to turn gay. One said she felt like picking up a blade and stabbing herself multiple times.

It also inspired creatively bizarre responses such as, "Imagining the people in this post doing it reminds me of Liquid Sky, where the aliens hover around in their tiny flying saucer sucking the life out of anybody who has an orgasm, and this one totally anhedonic but slutty person thinks she's killing all her sex partners by doing sex with them. If they remade that with zombies, that would be this."

Songwriter Matthew Meyer alerted us to the Brooklyn Brewery's 'BROOKLYN, SWEDEN' Song Contest, where New York songsters were asked to write about Brooklyn’s storied G train for a chance to win a trip to Sweden to enjoy the BROOKLYN, SWEDEN music festival.

At the end of August the Brooklyn Brewery will be exporting over a dozen of Brooklyn’s top bands to Sweden for the festival, as well as the lucky winner, who’ll be flown to Stockholm and put up at the Story Hotel.

The winning songwriter will also perform alongside a few of the bands on the festival roster at the BROOKLYN, SWEDEN Send Off party at the Rock Shop on August 28.

'Girl Walk//All Day' is tonight's free film on the beach at Coney Island (hosted by Rooftop Films, NYC & Company, and the Coney Island Development Corp).

Here's the description:
"'Girl Walk//All Day' is a feature-length dance music video and tale of urban exploration that follows three dancers across New York City. They turn the city's sidewalks, parks, and architecture into an evolving stage as they spread their joy of movement."

Music and dancing start at 7 p.m. and the film begins at 8:30 p.m. In the event of rain, film will be rescheduled. More here.

The Brooklyn Young Republican Club wants members to help put Brooklyn Tea Party President Joseph Hayon on the ballot for the "School Choice Party." He is running for New York State Assembly in the 41st Assembly District (Sheesphead Bay, Gravesend, Manhattan Beach, Midwood and Brighton Beach) on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence Party lines.

Hayon's opponent is Helene Weinstein, who has served in the Assembly for more then 30 years.

Hayon, an Orthodox Jew, is a vehement opponent of same-sex marriage and a strong proponent of giving public funds to religious schools.

He charges that Weinstein "voted to force public schools to teach gay marriage to children even though most parents oppose such instruction." [NOTE: This is a mischaracterization of the bill, which aims to prevent harassment of students. Sheepshead Bites points out that Hayon has misconstrued this bill in a previous campaign.]

"This is not just an issue for the religious community," Hayon said. "This is an issue of our free speech rights. Teachers will be fired, students will be expelled, and parents will lose their ability to raise their children the way they see fit, just for expressing their support for traditional marriage. If we cannot express our support for marriage today, we may not be able to express our support for democracy in the future."

Animation Block Party calls itself the "largest animation festival on the East Coast, dedicated to screening the world's best professional, student and independent work of all genres."

Tonight's opener -- with 20 cartoons and shorts -- takes place at Rooftop Films, located at the Automotive High School - 50 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg. The event opens at 8pm for live-music and the screenings will start around 9pm. There will be an intermission after The People Who Never Stop.

After party at Matchless, located at 557 Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn, featuring free beer courtesy of Radeberger.

The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Brooklyn and the nearby areas including southern Queens that warns of severe thunderstorms, damaging winds and large hail. NOAA adds, "An isolated tornado cannot be ruled out."

Many Brooklyn residents have attended the information forums about the $40 million, 2,499-seat Fieldhouse/ Velodrome proposed for Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Fieldhouse has been described as a community recreation center, with an indoor bike riding track as its centerpiece.

But it's not as simple as that, skeptics say. Peter Flemming, co-chair of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Community Council and a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Park Corporation told the Brooklyn Eagle that the Fieldhouse is actually a "specialized velodrome masquerading as a community recreation center — and it doesn’t belong in Brooklyn Bridge Park."

It seems that competitive track racing is not what most people think of as bicycle racing. Competitors ride special fixed-gear bikes without brakes, and must travel at least 16 miles an hour to avoid tipping over on curves that bank 45 degrees or more.

"Why help the city build a huge stadium — one of only two in the country — in a tiny waterfront park for this quaint, obscure, bizarre sport?” Flemming asks.

Greg Brooks, executive director of New York City Fieldhouse Inc., argues that the entire community will make use of the facility, and says it will save Brooklyn Bridge Park a ton of money. Read what he has to say here.

BK Swappers, Local Roots NYC and Krrb are hosting a food swap event tonight: bring a homemade edible treat or non-edible kitchen item to trade with other food-loving Brooklynites.

Brokelyn says the event comes with free beer, and it’s also a potluck, so bring a dish to share — prizes go to the best swap item and best potluck dish. You can buy a ticket for $5, but Brokelyn is giving away a pair of tickets.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Brooklyn Borough president Marty Markowitz is not known for being fashion-model svelte, but he gave some common sense testimony at this week's hearing on the Mayor's soda ban.

"The way to approach the obesity epidemic is through education, advocacy, counseling, group support, and I believe most importantly, efforts to raise self-esteem, not a punitive policy that forcibly limits consumer choices," the BP said, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

He adds, "Let me be clear: I’m overweight not because I drink Big Gulp sodas, but frankly because I eat too much pasta, pastrami sandwiches, pizza, bagels with cream cheese and lox, red velvet cake and cheesecake, don’t exercise as much as I should, and my genes are working against me. I was an overweight kid and I’m an overweight adult."

Markowitz urged the return of daily PE in schools and exercise classes across overweight neighborhoods.

"In addition, we should be ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to fresh fruits and vegetables by providing incentives to developers to rent to full-service supermarkets rather than another bank or drug chain," Markowitz said, "and open up our schools so that they can educate not only children, but parents on how to cook healthier and smarter meals with an emphasis on smaller portions."

Convicted pedophile Andrew Goodman, 27, molested two boys in Flatbush but was sentenced to a mere two years on July 12.

Today, a complaint was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging him with transporting a minor in interstate commerce to engage in sexual activity, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Goodman was set to appear today before United States Magistrate Judge Cheryl L. Pollak, at the U.S. Courthouse.

According to the complaint, in February 2010, Goodman traveled with the then 15-year-old victim to Atlantic City, New Jersey. While there, he allegedly sexually abused the victim in a hotel room.

"The prevention of sexual exploitation of children is a priority of this office," stated United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch. "Those who would take advantage of children are on notice that they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law." District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and the Kings County District Attorney’s Office assisted in the case.

A number of people are working themselves up into a state at the thought of the Nets opening the season in Brooklyn against the Nicks.

According to Newsday, the Knicks will be the Brooklyn Nets' first regular-season opponent in their new home, the Barclays Center, on Nov. 1.

It's all part of a calculated program to build the hysteria. The Brooklyn Eagle describes Nets owner Prokhorov's billboard outside Madison Square Garden, proclaiming the Nets' 'Blueprint for Greatness,' featuring a photo of himself and minority owner Jay-Z. The Knicks responded with a TV promo claiming, "Hey Nets. You can walk like us, you can talk like us, but you ain't never gonna be like us."

Commenters at SlamOnline express their opinions as to who is the better team.

Brooklyn Borough president Marty Markowitz has an idiosyncratic collection of nick-knacks and memorabilia saved from his years in office, including shovels from ground-breakings, the Ebbets Field home plate, and a guitar from Hippiefest. Plus a bird that can say 100 words, including "fuhgeddaboudit." (Presumably that counts as one word.)

It turns out that an adorable iPad app game for cats, called (oddly enough) "Game For Cats," allowed felines to "accidentally" download premium content with their busy little paws, and charge it to your credit card.

App development firm Hiccup told Fast Company, “We got in a lot of trouble [...] people were accusing us of tricking cats into making purchases. We got a ton of comments on our iTunes page, people accusing us of trying to rip of them off.”

The company is now making it harder for the little spendthrifts to get ahold of your plastic.

Mindy Meyer is a 22-year-old Flatbush law school student, running for NY State Senate in Brooklyn’s 21st District in the most awesomely pinkalicious way imaginable.

She calls herself, "The first young woman in the history of New York to run for New York State Senate." She's running unopposed as a Republican and Conservative against Kevin Parker, and says she is against stop and frisk, for school choice, intends to "crack down on crime," and wants to restore the summer youth job program.

As Katniss in 'The Hunger Games'

She calls herself: "Diva Of the District." That's her above holding a small bow and arrow (with the arrow pointing in the wrong direction).

For those who say she has no experience, Mindy says "I can tell you one thing, I have no experience in corruption."

"We endorsed her," said Jerry Kassar, chairman of Brooklyn's Conservative party. So there you go!

Police reported finding a Batman mask in the Colorado Batman shooter's apartment, according to NY Magazine.

Along the same lines, James Holmes, 24, whose shooting rampage left 12 dead and 59 wounded, dyed his hair red and told authorities after the shooting that he was "The Joker."

Even weirder, Holmes remained in character as the Joker after arriving at a detention center. A source told the NY Post that Holmes is “totally crazy, he’s walking around talking like a Joker” in prison.

Did you hear cheering, music and drums Sunday morning? Thousands of Asian-Americans and supporters marched over the Brooklyn Bridge to Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn Heights / Downtown Brooklyn for the Chinese-American Planning Council's (CPC) annual Walk-A-Thon and Family Day celebration.

The dragon dance team made quite the dramatic entrance into the park and entertained the crowd.

The CPC provides community services to Chinese kids, seniors and recent immigrants. Borough President Marty
Markowitz and Councilwoman Leticia James spoke about the great work CPC
does and the importance of Sunset Park's growing Chinese-American
community.

People of all ages marched together. After the celebration in Cadman Park, participants headed back to Columbus Park in Manhattan for more festivities.

Friday, July 20, 2012

One of the more than 70 people shot in the Colorado movie theater tragedy is a Brooklynite. "Christopher Rapoza of Prospect Heights/ Crown Heights says he just happened to be in Denver and was inside the theater when gunfire erupted and he was grazed by a bullet to his back. "Fortunately, he is expected to recover," BP Markowitz said today.

Rapoza himself posted photos of his back wound from his hospital bed. You can see them here.

Here is Markowitz' statement:

"The massacre in Aurora highlights once again the terrible consequences of our country’s love affair with guns, and why we must continue to follow the lead of Mayor Bloomberg and others in pushing Congress and state governments to enact tough gun laws.

"The Colorado shooting hits very close to home in Brooklyn, because reportedly one of the more than 70 people shot is a Brooklynite. Christopher Rapoza of Prospect Heights/Crown Heights says he just happened to be in Denver and was inside the theater when gunfire erupted and he was grazed by a bullet to his back. Fortunately, he is expected to recover but twelve other theatergoers weren’t as fortunate.

"All of Brooklyn joins the nation and the world in mourning the innocent lives lost, and we pray for the full recovery of the dozens of wounded victims in this senseless national tragedy."

Hop the free ferry from Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park and enjoy enjoy "more series, more poets, more headliners, more vendors, an additional arts and crafts village, and healthy and delicious food options" this year.

For the first time, the event includes a children's festival: a village of teepees and a forest of balloons prompting kids to write poems about what it would be like to be a fish, or what the sky looks like at night. The children's area will include poem helpers, readings, movement and performances.

The MTA announced Thursday new bus routes and service restorations, including a "Tech Triangle" route which will connect Downtown Brooklyn to DUMBO, Vinegar Hill and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

"Brooklyn's tech industry is changing the face of New York—and now,
we'll have a bus route that will allow the booming Tech Triangle to
continue to grow and innovate," Squadron, D-Brooklyn, said in a
statement.

The exact details of the new route haven't been decided yet, but it may involve re-routing the B25 bus, which presently terminates on Main Street in DUMBO.

A new waterfront route will link Williamsburg to Greenpoint, and another route is planned to connect East New York to Spring Creek, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

The MTA has also agreed to make the G train 5-stop extension to Church Avenue permanent.

Nine Brooklyn bus lines will be either restored or extended; list of changes here.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

The cheerful Milk Not Jails truck making a delivery on Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights.

We saw the Milk Not Jails truck in Brooklyn Heights yesterday and wondered what it was all about. It turns out that Milk Not Jails is an alliance working to build an economic alternative to the prison industry in New York State.

Milk Not Jails says New York should promote dairy farming, not incarceration, for rural jobs. Over 90% of New York’s prisons are located in rural areas, but prison towns have not seen the jobs or improvements they were promised. Today, dairy farmers are selling their herds or shutting down.

They are also working to bring more local farm foods into schools, break a monopoly that is putting dairy farmers out of business, and decriminalize minor crimes like possessing small amounts of marijuana that put thousands of people in jail unnecessarily.

Extreme heat, downed trees, torrential rains, hail and flooding caused thousands of power outages across Con Edison's service area Wednesday. Nearly 12,500 of 14,300 affected customers had their electricity back as of 9:30 p.m., Con Ed reported. About 1,800 remain to be restored (at about 1 a.m.).

According to MSNBC, temperatures hit 103 degrees in Newark, 100 in Central Park, 101 at LaGuardia and 96 at JFK International yesterday.

Con Ed reduced voltage by 5 percent in some Brooklyn neighborhoods, though the company said it was OK to use air conditioning and other appliances. (Turn them off if you don't need them, however.)

In many areas the storm felt like a tornado. If you haven't seen it already, check out this amazing photo former NFL player Dhani Jones took from a plane taking off from Laguardia, posted on Instagram.

According to the NY Daily News, a bolt of lightening apparently hit a woman in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens. Also in Queens, a tree fell on a woman's car and seriously injured her.

By 6 or 6:30 p.m., the storm was gone, leaving us with cooler temperatures and a mess to clean up.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Torrential rains, lightening and thunder swept over Brooklyn minutes ago as the National Weather Service
issued hazardous weather warnings including flooding and hail. Above: Cadman Plaza Park surrounded by the court houses and tall buildings of Downtown Brooklyn, obscured in the storm.

The Nation Weather Service has issued all kinds of hazardous weather warnings for Brooklyn and the nearby metropolitan area for crazy, hazardous weather including lightening, thunder, winds in excess of 60 mph, flooding and hail.

Get inside!

REACHING NEW YORK CITY AND COASTAL LOCATIONS BETWEEN 2 PM AND 4 PM BEFORE MOVING OFFSHORE BY EARLY THIS EVENING.

SOME OF THESE STORMS WILL BE SEVERE...WITH DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AND LARGE HAIL. FLASH FLOODING IS ALSO POSSIBLE AS THE MOIST ATMOSPHERE WILL ALLOW THESE STORMS TO PRODUCE 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAINFALL IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS ALSO EXPECTED.

UPDATE: The National Weather Service has added a Flash Flood Warning to all the other warnings. Don't drive through areas where water covers the roadway.

It's been four years since Macy's turned their corporate back on Brooklyn by moving the July 4th fireworks to the Hudson River.

Should Brooklynite's turn their back on Macy' s until the fireworks return to the East River?

There are probably other shops where we can buy all those clothes, shoes, sheets and Christmas presents.

Returning the Fourth of July fireworks to the East River would benefit all of New York City: The East River is central, with clear sight lines from Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

The whole fireworks thing, once a nice PR campaign, is turning into a black eye for Macy's -- and an unnecessary one.

In the meantime, thousands have signed a petition set up by Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio and State Senator Daniel Squadron demanding that Macy's return the July 4th fireworks to the place where most of New York City can see them -- the East River.

Pepper spray filled the air as the NYPD arrested three youths at McCarren Pool Tuesday night in a wild melee, writes A Walk in the Park.

"During the melee police called for an 85 - additional units needed. An additional 20 officers arrived at the wild scene."

Witnesses told the NY Daily News the trouble started around 6:15 p.m. "when a group of boisterous teenagers began jeering and chanting at the deep end of the pool, which was packed to its 1,500-strong capacity on one of the year’s hottest days."

“You could tell something was going to happen. It was obvious. You just had that feeling in the air,” the witness told the Daily News.

Experts told MSNBC that the Summer Olympics in England are "a perfect stage for a terror attack if that's your agenda."

According to CNN, the Home Office said that G4S -- the company handling security -- is supposed to supply 10,400 guards but only has about 4,000 trained and ready. G4S is also suffering from a software
problem, which means the contractor cannot guarantee who will turn up
where and whether guards have the right training.

Even America's lackluster and sometimes terrifying TSA being called in to supplement inadequate security in England. In responce, a reader on Reddit commented: "UK: now bending over for Americans more literally."

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

- Tributes poured in for the late Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach -- from a member of the radical SDS to a Kings County Judge of the Year, to war-crimes judge for the U.N. Brooklyn Eagle

Monday, July 16, 2012

In spite of occasional rain, the 2012 Bastille Day celebration on Smith Street in Brooklyn was un grand succès once again. Smith Street was covered with sand by John Quadrozzi's cement company for the famous petanque tournament and thousands flocked to Boerum Hill for games, little glasses of Lillet, music and French food.

In petanque, competitors throw metal balls (boules), trying to get close to a little ball called a "pig" (cochonnet).

Deciding which ball is closest often takes a big discussion.

Milton and his band entertained outside Bar Tabac till 6, followed by François Weiss and his trio.

The event -- the biggest Bastille Day celebration in the U.S. -- took place this year one day after July 14, the date that marks the actual anniversary of the storming of the Bastille in 1789.

In the past decade, about 3,000 French families have moved into the
Carroll Gardens, Gowanus and Park Slope neighborhoods, according to
information gathered by Fabrice Jaumont, education attaché for the
French Embassy. (More about this at Carroll Gardens Patch.)

John Quadrozzi told the Brooklyn Eagle that his workers spread 12 cubic yards of sand on Smith Street. “We deliver it with our historic 1961 Mack Truck concrete mixer — it’s the first truck we had when we started the business, and it’s fully restored.”

Brooklyn's Bastille Day event was founded 10 years ago by Bette Stoltz along with restaurants Bar Tabac and Robin des Bois (now shuttered), and is sponsored by French apéritif company Ricard.

As crowds packed Pier 3 at Brooklyn Bridge Park (and lined the Promenade as well) Busta Rhymes worked it with his old friends at the 8th Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival’s final day on Saturday (July 14).

Among those appearing with Busta were Lil Fame of M.O.P., Buckshot, Tek and Steele of Smif-N-Wessun, Slick Rick, Reek Da Villian, J. Doe, Phife Dawg, Raekwon, Rakim and Q-Tip, in a Leaders of the New School reunion.

Rapper Kosha Dillz and DJ Rawbeatz. Photo: L. Metz

Big crowd, blasting loudspeakers. Photo: L. Metz

The Brooklyn Nets Experience Bus was there with its basket and scoreboard, and people were shooting hoops. Borough President Marty Markowitz proclaimed Brooklyn the borough of Hip Hop.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Brooklyn Nets threw a party on Friday at Brooklyn Borough Hall in Downtown Brooklyn to welcome new player Joe Johnson, number 7, and the recently re-signed Deron Williams, number 8. Nets General Manager Billy King (above right) told the crowd that now the Nets have “the best backcourt in the NBA."

Nets Head Coach Avery Johnson (left) talked about how relieved he was that the team had signed the two players.

Outside Borough Hall maybe a thousand people gathered, including excited kids from three summer camps, basketball fans and lunchtime gawkers. A crowd of folks came over from Metrotech.

The Nets "Experience" Mobile Unit (that big black truck in the background) where you can buy T-shirts and tickets played hip-hop music. Attached to the side is a regulation basketball hoop with a real working scoreboard and flat-screen televisions.

Brooklyn Nets announcer David Diamante practiced his radio voice while the Brooklynettes dancers presented an oversized cheesecake from Juniors. They were very smooth and showbiz.

BP Marty Markowitz, quite excited, talked trash about the Nicks. He said that the "Manhattan" Nicks fans sipped Dom Perignon but Nets fans liked Brooklyn beer. He added that Brooklynites who remained fans of the Nicks would be committing "treason."

People yelled players' names and applauded. Then came a crack that sounded like a gun, and white and black streamers shot out of a device and unfurled over the crowd.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Three rowboats and one kayak from the water education program Rocking the Boat, based in the Bronx, were rescued after running into trouble in the East River off Brooklyn this afternoon.

A motorized vessel belonging to the program roped the boats together and towed them south, escorted by NYPD Harbor unit 'Patrolman Walburger.' The current appeared to be quite strong in a northerly direction.

In the yellow rowboat, above, a man who appeared to be injured was stretched out in the back. He remained in this position the entire time the boats were in view.

Normally these boats operate up in Hunts Point Riverside Park. However, today is City of Water Day, a harbor wide event that fills the waters around Governors Island with hundreds of small vessels.

Up until now we had assumed that Saturn was a pretty but totally fanciful illustration made up for the cover of magazines.

Hot damn! It's awe-inspiring to see it with your own eyes, rings and all, up in the sky over Brooklyn.

If you want to see Saturn, Mars, the moon and whatever else happens to be floating overhead at night, the Amateur Astronomers Association sets up telescopes every Thursday night from 8:30-10:30pm at Brooklyn Bridge Park at the Pier 1 Promenade.

- A 26-year-old woman went missing after heading to volunteer at a Brooklyn shelter on July 8. Her family received a chilling text from her phone: “The owner of this phone is dead, but she was smiling." CBS local